Looking After
by sadistic dreamkiller
Summary: Being placed as a watchtower guard on a stormy night and forgetting any protection against it is a hated assignment for Sakura, until someone radios in and has a chat. SasuSaku


**EDIT (nov 2 06):** Fixed a typo. And thanks to those who reviewed!

I'm on an overdrive, don't you think? This one's been made while listening to My Immortal by Evanescence.

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**Looking After**

Oneshot

"_I feel cold, and you manage to bring back the warmth."_

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The rain was raging in torrents, and Sakura was shivering as she stayed alone in the gate tower, cold from the stray drops that slipped past the roof and from the wind that blew against her. Damn nice timing for a storm, coming when she was set up for a full-scale watchtower nightshift. She coughed a bit from the cold, rubbing her arms. Damn, and she was only wearing a light coat, since she had expected the rain to be light and over in a few hours.

Flashes of lightning were the only things that broke the dark silhouette of the area past the border. She could distinguish the difference between land and sky, the latter being a dark blue, the former pitch-black. Behind her lay the village of Konoha, and she was ordered to be staying there until sunrise. Great. And she might not even know when that sunrise would be, being covered by the dark clouds.

A crack of thunder made her jump in her skin, and after a few moments making her wearily lean back on the damp concrete railing. There were more raindrops that fell there but she couldn't care less. She was wet enough as it is. To make matters worse, the wind was getting stronger. Another flare of lighting blinded her for seconds and made her shade her eyes, accompanied instantly by a shuddering roar of thunder that made her skin crawl. Not that it wasn't crawling already.

"Geez, turn down the volume will you?" she commented, angry at the weather. Who wouldn't, when in her shoes? Oh, and she also forgot, she was up and ready to be working at the hospital for a forty-eight hour shift right after this. Lovely. Just lovely.

The receiver that was worn over an ear crackled, and she waited for whoever was trying to contact her, either to give her an order or an update of how things were going on. Or maybe even small talk since there was nothing to do for a good six hours.

"Is this the seventh tower?"

"Sure I am," she replied nonchalantly, keeping away the chatter in her voice. She needed something warm right now, with the wind howling at her. "Who's this?"

"Sixteenth tower. How's the situation there?"

Now that was weird. She thought it was Anko in tower sixteen, but it seemed that she was wrong. Maybe it was sixty-one or something similar.

"Well, nothing out of the ordinary," she said into the microphone attached to the receiver, scanning the terrain again. Seriously, barely anyone would be able to see through that blackness. "Just a huge-ass black patch. How about there?"

She could hear the slight chuckle of the one who received her remark. She smirked. It was true anyway.

"It's dark here as well," he replied, the occasional static interweaved into the voice.

"Sure. Only Hyuuga's probably would have the chance of seeing anything here," she said, enjoying this chat. It helped pass the time, she wasn't bored, and there was a chance that she would have no idea who this was, and after this one-night mission, she wouldn't have any problems with flings or anything like those. Another burst of bright lightning made her squeeze her eyes shut, soon after followed by the voice of the person she was talking to.

"Oh? And those with the sharingan? They'd be able to see as well."

The sudden comment made her stop, freezing in the act of supposedly rubbing her arms to warm herself some more. Who was this? She laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, right. They're wiped out here in Konoha already," she said, wishing a painful death to whoever was at the end of that line. He was irritating her already by bringing up the subject of… forget it.

"But the survivors are still out there, maybe waiting for–" static cut in.

"Hello?" she asked, straining to hear what was left of the conversation.

"Yeah? Still here."

"Um… I didn't hear it clearly," she said, a bit sheepish. "Static, you know."

"Oh, okay. I said that maybe the survivors outside the village might be waiting for a chance to be back."

She shrugged off the suspicion she had, but trying to find the right words to test if they were right.

"But you see, they can hurt people by being unreasonable sometimes," said Sakura into the receiver, biting her lip at what she did. All she could hear was another light chuckle.

"You think so?"

"I do," she replied.

"From what you're telling me it seems you have something against them."

"Against him," she corrected, feeling something in her at the growing possibility. She could hear the "hnh" from the other line, probably an amused breath on the mike.

"Who of them?" he finally asked, the hilarity in his tone making her consider answering. Would this person find out who she was if she told him? It _was_ a rule on missions to be keeping yourself anonymous, but since he had a lot of girls pining after him, maybe this wouldn't hurt.

"The younger one."

His laugh reached her ears, unconsciously making her smile. It was nice, she couldn't help it.

"The younger? You mean, the one called Sasuke?"

Sakura flinched. Okay, that did it.

"I think yeah, that's his name if I don't forget," she said coldly. The awkward silence that filtered through was taking her a step closer to finding out.

"Can I ask you a favor?" he suddenly said, his voice breaking through the fizzing of the signal.

"Anything."

"Look at the location of my tower."

"What?" she asked, curious. She turned around, trying to remember how far the intervals of their posts were, and how many there were in all. Straining over the darkness, she looked at the position of who she was talking to. Well, assumed position, but it was so far away that it could be around that area. "I don't know where _exactly_ you are, but I think in the general direction I'm facing right now."

"Actually in the opposite," answered a voice behind her, making her hand drop from holding the receiver to her ear and spin around to face _him_.

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

Sasuke was sitting lazily on top of the balustrade, leaning against the post with a hand resting on a knee, the other slowly lowering from holding a similar receiver to his ear. He was staring at her, that cold gaze that he gave her three years back that implied he found her annoying as ever. She blinked, vaguely registering the heavy cloak he had draped over him and protected him against the harsh weather.

"Why, is it bad to pay a visit?" he asked, comprehending her reaction, slinging down his legs and placing his hands beside him for support, never taking off his obsidian gaze off her. He watched as her hand, shaking presumably from the cold, raised to try and contact another person.

In a flash the receiver was taken off and in Sasuke's hand, his movement sending a slight wind to her already wet skin.

"You're not calling for anyone, since they're not who I intend to see," he said simply, dropping both devices on the floor with a hollow clattering. She merely stared, her troubled emerald gaze unable to look away. This was bad, she knew it.

"As a Konoha ninja and guard of the seventh tower, state your reason for passing the border," she said, knowing well that it would go unnoticed. Still, it was part of her duty, and even if she should die now, she would do everything along the code.

"You know well that wouldn't work," he said in clipped tones, no trace of emotion in those eyes that she thought she knew so well.

"I repeat, state you reason or I will not allow you to pass," she said persistently. Can't he make it easier and stab her right then and there?

His eyes leaving her own, he raised a hand slowly to the side of her face, fingers barely touching her skin as he pulled away the pastel-toned locks, already dripping with the rain, and securing it lightly behind her ear.

Sakura's eyes fluttered close, revering the warmth of his hand as it grazed against the cooling skin of her face, feeling his intense gaze on her own. The sweetness of sin.

The rain was pounding on the roof of the tower, and she kept her eyes closed, knowing well where it would lead if she didn't. Hearing his disappointed sigh, it was followed by warmth draping over her, forcing her to open her eyes and seeing his form as he already stood on the concrete railing, looking back on her as he was pelted by the icy drops.

"Thank you."

He disappeared, in a flurry of rain and leaves, leaving her there staring at the place where he stood, still dumbfounded if it was real of not. One of the leaves still fluttering reached her, getting caught in her hair. Sakura reached up and took it, staring at the innocent memento as it rested on her palm.

She smiled, believing he had indeed been there, feeling the warmth of his coat that he had swathed around her, and protected her against the harsh weather.

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**Author's Note:** I don't seem to be in my right mind right now. T.T


End file.
